A CONVERSATION WITH BLU KENNEDY

Blu Kennedy can deftly switch personas at the drop of a hat. He's the shy, bashful angel receiving sexual instruction from older men, and the aggressive fireball, passionately deep-dicking co-stars like Spencer Quest. His red hair, milky complexion, sensuality, and rock-solid performances have made him one of the most recognizable models working in gay porn today. He recently earned a few 2006 GayVN nominations, one for
Best Supporting Actor in Alabama Takedown and another for Performer of the Year.

I was lucky enough to snag 30 minutes with Blu before he was off to the dentist for a little, um, drilling. I got him to open up on a wide range of topics, everything from life in the Big Apple to performing at Carnegie Hall. I even got him to spill the dirt on where he stashed his porn as a young'un.

IK: You lived in San Francisco at one point, right?

BK: Yes, I moved to New York in August, July, late July.

IK: What made you decide to move?

BK: School, and my boyfriend at the time had a job transfer. It was easy for me to come.

IK: You prefer New York to San Francisco?

BK: No, actually. I miss San Francisco! It's getting easier.

IK: What about New York isn't working so well?

BK: It's just the place. I mean, it's nothing specific. I hated it at first, but now it's getting easier. I'm doing things here that I could not do anywhere else like working in night clubs. I'm having the kind of life here I don't think I could have anywhere else.

IK: I used to hide stuff in the closet and under the mattress. Where was your hiding spot, Blu?

BK: I think under the mattress was one of the places. I hid my stuff outside, too, so they wouldn't find it. But then the rain would get to it. There's a workout magazine that's very suggestive called Men's Workout that I used to have. It showed like bulges and things like that. I didn't care about working out!

IK: It's really soft core porn.

BK: Yes, they sell it in, like, regular random bookstores. I think the people that are making it know what they're doing, but the people that are selling it at the newsstand don't.

IK: Blu, you've had such incredible range, different kinds of performances, different directors. It seems like you're just kicking into high gear with your work. All my buddies keeping bringing up the fluffing footage in 110° In Tucson between you and Nathan York. What was that all about?

BK: Before we shot the scene, we were shooting still pictures, and we were the only two there. So we just starting helping each other out! They knew what they were doing; they said they wanted to film us so they could put it in the DVD extras.

IK: There seems to be some real heat in that fluffing footage. The scene itself was great. What was going through your head while you were filming all this?

BK: It was only my second movie I ever made, too. It was two days straight of working, but I enjoyed it a lot. Joe Gage is very nice to work for, fantastic. He's the nicest, easiest person to get along with. He's one of the few people that, he'll get angry, but he won't show it to the cast. Some directors, they let you know that they're angry or frustrated.

IK: Were you aware that there was going to be an element of incest running underneath the scene?

BK: I didn't know when I got there, but soon after, they did read me the script. I didn't know going into it what it was, but I knew soon after! This is how a lot of the scenes work - they just ask me to do something and I don't know what it is until I get there.

IK: I also just recently saw the dorm room scene in Encounters: The Heat of the Moment. I think you're a truly good actor. In this particular scene, little subtle things that you do-- I mean, I thought it was very well done.

IK: …which then makes it difficult for an actor to have good back and forth during a scene, right?

BK: They gave him more lines than they gave me. I was a little bit frustrated. I knew his lines at the end of the day, both his lines and my lines.

IK: Michael Lucas didn't direct that scene, right?

BK: That was Tony DiMarco, who works for Michael. He's really good. He worked with Joe Gage for a long time, I guess, for a little while. He tries to mimic his style a little bit, incorporate Gage's style with his own.

IK: Was that scene shot in an actual dorm room? It certainly looks like it was.

BK: [laughter] No. That was shot in a loft in Chelsea.

IK: The lighting was made it seem like it was 2:00 in the morning and you're keeping a light on for your roommate to come back from whatever he's doing so he can see. The production values weren't traditional at all. I thought it was very well done. Do you agree?

BK: Yes, I agree. It was different and it was fun to do.

IK: Do you have an acting background, Blu?

BK: Not acting. I mean, performing, yes. But not acting. I performed as a musician when I was a little kid for a long time.

IK: Are you auditioning in New York now for--

BK: No, no. I left that-- I hated that when I did it. My parents made me do it.

IK: What, audition?

BK: Singing. I was in a boys choir for a couple years. And when I was 12, I performed at Carnegie Hall twice. As a young boy, I sang soprano; now I sing baritone. From very little, I was always in honors choirs and things like that. Then I auditioned for this boys choir that was performing in Carnegie Hall, and that's when my parents really started pushing me to do it. That's when I thought I had something that was worth something. I also took piano lessons. I played the tuba for ten years.

IK: Is it that you don't like singing in front of people?

BK: I think the biggest thing is that I was made to do it and it wasn't fun. I was doing this professionally, so we had a serious director. It wasn't a bunch of kids getting together and playing around; it was serious.

IK: Thinking about joining a choir in New York now? Maybe revisiting singing in public?

BK: Maybe when I'm older, or maybe in a couple years. But right now, no. I do enjoy singing.

IK: So no private voice lessons in New York with a coach?

BK: No, but maybe in a couple years when the rest of my life slows down. Part of the reason I stopped was my range. I used to have a much larger range, not only higher, it was larger. Practice helps. You can add to your range. I just don't want to practice!

IK: When did you abandon all your musical training for something else?

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BK: When I left Kansas, started doing other things, I guess.

IK: Your performances are very authentic, Blu. Do you think you're getting roles that require a little bit more of an understanding of character? I'm thinking specifically of moments in films like "Gale Force: Mens Room 2" and "Tough Guys: Getting' Off". You have a real knack for playing innocence. I don't know any other way to say that. Do you agree?

BK: That comes really easy to me, too. I get really shy when I'm put on the spot, especially when I'm put on the spot. It comes naturally. I get really shy and giddy and I blush. Like, if I'm put on the spot on-camera or onstage or something-- I hear all the time that I'm the shyest pornstar people have ever met.

IK: Tell me more about working with hairy daddy Mike Grant in "Tough Guys: Getting' Off".

BK: That was fun to make. I really liked it a lot. Mike was really good, too.

IK: What about him made the sparks fly during that scene?

BK: [The co-star] has to be attractive, definitely. But more than anything, he has to be, like-- I don't know what the word is. Passionate, I guess. So many porn models, the sex is just flat.

IK: Mike had that passion?

BK: The energy was there, yes.

IK: What kind of men are you usually attracted to? Is there a physical type?

BK: I like guys my age as well as guys Mike's age. Typically guys my age, it's not there. I don't know. Maybe it's that they don't have any experience with sex, or something. The chemistry, it has to be there.

IK: There's only one film that I've seen you in where I didn't think the director got the best performance - Raw 2.

BK: That was Doug Jeffries. That was shot very quickly. Doug is a different director. Took me a little while to get his directing style. He's very specific about what he likes. Joe Gage spends hours.

IK: Okay, Blu - let's say you're stuck inside during a thunderstorm and you want to get off. You decide you're going to watch some porn. Are you going to slip in one of your own movies? Or are you going to pick something else to watch?

BK: [laughter] I have a real problem watching myself on camera. Having sex, I just don't like seeing myself on-camera.

IK: Why?

BK: It's just strange to see myself. I criticize myself really hard, like, every little thing that I did wrong, or something.

IK: So if you're not watching yourself, is there a specific film or a kind of film that you'd watch?

BK: Not really. If I'm going to watch porn, part of the fantasy is that I don't know the people, which is kind of hard now, because I know a lot of the people in the industry. It's hard to find movies that-- Because I can see the editing tricks that they do, like they'll loop the footage. You can tell and it bothers me when they do that.

IK: Given your insider's viewpoint, is there a studio that you gravitate towards if you're going to watch something? Like Falcon or--

BK: Their old ones are really good, like their stuff from the '90s is good. I don't know about anymore; I haven't seen too many recently. But their older stuff is really good. And not the old, old stuff. I like the stuff from the '90s, like Arid and Aqua. It's mostly because I don't know any of those guys either, because they were before me.

IK: That's so interesting to hear you say that, Blu. That leads me to another question. Your fans are definitely dedicated and hardcore. Are you aware of that?

BK: I don't know other people's fans so I guess I don't really know to compare, but--

IK: Have you had any interactions with your fans?

BK: I go-go dance. I meet a lot of people out. I don't necessarily know if they know me or not. I mean, they'll come and say 'hi' but I don't necessarily know how they know me. It's easy for me to assume that they don't know who I am. I have one person who knew who I was and discovered me go-go dancing, and now he follows me.

IK: You like a little bit of distance between you and the folks that watch your films?

BK: I just like to feel like when I walk into a club or when I'm in public, it makes me feel better if I feel like nobody knows who I am. I don't feel so self-conscious about what I'm doing.

IK: Let's say there's someone who's not familiar with your work, hasn't seen any of your films. If you were point him to your best on-screen performance, what film would that be?

BK: Alabama Takedown. I got the biggest, the best responses from that. I think it was actually the hottest, the shoot. Even though I was really sick--

IK: You had a cold?

BK: I had horrible flu that shoot! The last day of shooting, I had a fever of 103.

IK: And they made you work anyway?

BK: [laughter] They did! It was the last day of shooting. I was, like, "Can I come back next week?" and they said no. So I finished the work! I looked bad for the stills. I was tired and I wanted to go home.

IK: The weigh-in scene with Spencer Quest and Cliff Rhodes was great.

BK: That was interesting, too, because before that scene, I'd had a big thing for Spencer. I had a little bit of a crush on him. One of the first movies that I shot was "Manplay" and I really liked Spencer. For some reason, I thought Spencer didn't like little boys or he discredited me, the way I looked, so [he discounted] the way I would have sex. He didn't think I was as rough as I was! That was like, "Finally I got my chance…"

IK: Did you and Spencer talk about the scene afterwards?

BK: No. I never told him that, either. But I had a crush on him for awhile.

IK: What do you want to do when you are no longer doing porn, Blu?

BK: Well, first of all, I hope I'm not doing it to the point where I can't do it, like, no one will hire me. I hope it's my decision to stop. I'm in school right now. I have a quote/unquote "regular" career. I've been working in retail, in fashion since I was 16. That's, I guess, my life's work! Unlike porn, hard work and dedication is rewarded [in fashion]. You get promotions for working for companies for a couple years or working for someone for a long time. The entertainment industry in general is bad about that I think.

IK: What should we be expecting next, Blu?

BK: I'm rehearsing for the HX float for pride with my friends. The theme is "Under The Big Top". You can still find me go-go dancing at Mr. Black in Noho, and look for me in either July or August edition of Unzipped!